segestria florentina (tube web spider)

[kat weasel]

Hello all,

I'm now going to sound a bit simple but I have just joined this forum to get some information.

My garden is full of these beasties (I am petrified of spiders and have even been known to become hysterical over dead ones) and what I need to know is - how likely is it that I will get bitten by one and is there anything I can do to make them want to live somewhere else?

I don't want to kill them because a) my other half would go mental and b) I don't have big enough balls for that anyway!

I am becoming slightly obsessed with them having taken over my little world (they are all over my hometown of Portsmouth) and I just want to hear how (ir)rational I am actually being!

Thanks
Kat xxx

[Wild-Woman]

Originally Posted by kat weasel

Hello all,

I'm now going to sound a bit simple but I have just joined this forum to get some information.

My garden is full of these beasties (I am petrified of spiders and have even been known to become hysterical over dead ones) and what I need to know is - how likely is it that I will get bitten by one and is there anything I can do to make them want to live somewhere else?

I don't want to kill them because a) my other half would go mental and b) I don't have big enough balls for that anyway!

I am becoming slightly obsessed with them having taken over my little world (they are all over my hometown of Portsmouth) and I just want to hear how (ir)rational I am actually being!

Thanks
Kat xxx

If you poke your finger down the tube, then you'd be asking for a nip. Otherwise, when they do come out, just leave them to do their thing (usually male looking for a female) and they really won't do you any harm.
They are in and out like a flash when prey steps on the tripwires that radiate out from the tube entrance.
If you're having trouble connecting with these spectacular spiders, then may I suggest getting to know all about them. Knowledge can dispell fear sometimes. It did with me years ago.

There really isn't any way to make them go elsewhere. They love walls and fence posts and anywhere they can make a nice deep tube.Enjoy them, I would!

[No.9 Spider]

Rest assured that these spiders as all others have no interest in us and would not actively pursue us. I'd say that 99% of bites occur when a spider is either trapped in clothing or bedding and feels threatened causing a defensive bite. The other 1% are probably people putting their fingers where they shouldn't!



No. 9 Spider

[wildherbalian85]

Keep doors shut from evening onwards, and don't lean up against walls or fences in the evening or night and you should be fine.

[kat weasel]

Thanks for all your answers - I am starting to get a bit more used to them being around!

I must admit (even though I have no desire to get too close), they really are interesting things. We've got them of all sizes and som with webs that radiate for about 4 inches and those that fit into a hole only about 3mm across with no visible web on the outside.

I do feel slightly better about them now that I have found a little more information on them. Glad that they are only aggressive when threatened as it's only my boyfriend who's stupid enough to poke them anyway!

Thanks again - you've made a previously very scared moron a bit happier about going in the garden!

Kat xxx